Hulu's Streaming Shows Reel in Viewers

August 27, 2008

Erik Larkin

Hulu.com, a well-made site offering free, ad-supported streaming TV shows and movies through a Web browser, now tops CNN and Turner in U.S. video site rankings, according to Nielsen stats relayed by Silicon Alley Insider.

Despite an official launch only five months ago and a relatively small library of shows and movies, the site offered up 105 million streams in July, just behind ESPN's 106 million streams.

According to paidContent.org, that's up from 63 million streams in April. Strong growth, but still far, far behind YouTube's 5 billion - yes, billion - streams in July. Then again, when it comes to streaming video, nobody comes close to YouTube.

Some of Hulu's success is likely due to the recent addition of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report full episodes on the site, but here's a clue as to at least some of its popularity: the three most popular movie clips for today are "Porky's: Shower Spy Hole," "Animal House: Topless Pillow Fight," and "American Pie 2: Going Too Far."

To maintain its growth, Hulu is ready to roll out a $50 million ad campaign, according to Adweek. I don't think it's a stretch to expect it to continue to do well.